Max Euwe

Machgielis "Max" Euwe was the fifth world champion and a mathematician. He was one of the most important figures in chess throughout the 20th Century. Euwe was born on May 20, 1901 in the town of Watergraafsmeer, Netherlands. His parents would often play games of chess while young Max observed. By the age of five he was not only playing chess, but beating his parents. In 1911 at the age of ten, Euwe played in his first junior tournament and won every game. The prodigy, Euwe, began attending the Amsterdam chess club and competing in tournaments. In 1921 at the age of 20 Euwe won the Dutch Championship and established himself as the best player in the Netherlands. He would continue to win every subsequent Dutch championship that he competed in, establishing himself as the greatest Dutch player of all time.

Euwe also had a genius for mathematics as well as chess. He studied mathematics at the University of Amsterdam and eventually earned his doctorate in 1926. Some might say Euwe was an even more brilliant mathematician than chess player. He went on to publish several papers, including a mathematical study that proved that an "infinite game" of chess was possible. While his work in the field of mathematics continued, Euwe began competing in strong international tournaments. His approach to chess was mathematical and logical and was governed by a strict set of principles. He became the foremost authority on the transition from the opening to the middlegame. Throughout the late 1920's and early 1930's Euwe, with his logical approach, would put forth some impressive results. In 1930 Euwe finished in first place at Hastings over former world champion Jose Capablanca and a strong tournament field. Euwe also played individual matches against some of the world's best players including world champions Alexander Alekhine and Jose Capablanca. While Euwe narrowly lost both matches, the experiences encouraged him and gave him the belief that he could become world champion one day.

In 1935 Max Euwe challenged world champion Alexander Alekhine for the world title. The match took place from September – December, 1935 over 13 cities throughout the Netherlands. The heavily favored world champion Alekhine came out with an early lead, but the challenger, Euwe, with home court advantage came roaring back. In the end, Euwe would pull off the upset and become the fifth world chess champion defeating Alekhine by the score of 15 ½ to 14 ½. Some attributed Alekhine's overconfidence and even his alcoholism to him losing the match. Others claimed that Euwe's superior preparation and great physical conditioning was the difference maker. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that Euwe outplayed his opponent and deservedly won the championship.

The Euwe vs. Alekhine rematch took place in 1937, again in Euwe's home country of Holland. The match started off as a close contest. This time Alekhine was much better prepared and had reportedly given up drinking. Euwe would eventually lose the title back to Alekhine by the decisive score of 15 ½ to 9 ½. Euwe would never again challenge for the world chess title. He continued to play in strong international tournaments well into the 1950's with some notable successes, but never regained the form he displayed in his world championship run.

In 1970 Max Euwe became the president of FIDE (The International Chess Federation) where he served for eight years until 1978. He presided as president and was instrumental in the organizing of the 1972 Bobby Fischer vs. Boris Spassky World Championship Match. His tenure as president of FIDE was during the height of Cold War tensions, and his level headed objective approach served to represent FIDE and international chess in a positive light. Max Euwe died on November 26, 1981 at the age of 80. While Max Euwe will be best remembered for defeating Alexander Alekhine to become world champion, he had an incredibly rich dual career as a scientist and chess grandmaster. He became a national hero and greatly popularized chess in his native Netherlands. He presided as president over FIDE and guided it during the 1972 Fischer vs. Spassky "match of the century". He is revered as a humble and capable world champion who was a positive figure in both the popularization of chess and the advancement of its theories.

"Recent battles between different styles show that chess is not exhausted and continues to remain a lively, dynamic and eternally developing game."

On Euwe:
"He is a tactician, who has decidedly at any cost decided to make himself a good strategist…Euwe believes perhaps too implicitly in the invariability of the rules." – Alexander Alekhine

"Method rules his training, which blends the physical with the mental. How many chess masters put in, prior to an important match, an allotted time daily to bicycling and shadow boxing, followed by a cold shower and a brisk rub down?" – Hans Kmoch

Chess Archives was published monthly by a team of Dutch chess opening analysts, headed by former World Champion Dr. Max Euwe. If a new opening trick or trap were discovered, one could be sure it would appear soon in Chess Archives. Readers of established books like Modern Chess Openings could have an unpleasant surprise when a line the were playing had been refuted by new discoveries. That was unlikely to happen to any reader of Chess Archives because the new issues would always contain the latest stuff.

In this book, the great Dutch World Champion, Dr. Max Euwe, discusses both strategy and tactics in chess, having special emphasis on the latter, to which about two-thirds of the book is dedicated. Tactics have been, comparatively speaking, neglected in chess literature, and it is therefore, interesting to find that five out of eight chapters of this book are devoted to combinations which are analyzed and classified.

The distinguished author, himself a past world champion and President of FIDE, analyzes aspects of Fischer's play in comparison with previous holders of the title Alekhine, Botvinnik, Capablanca, Euwe, Lasker, Petrosian, Smyslov, Spassky, Tal. He examines the relevance of the respective ELO ratings of the earlier champions and provides more specific evidence for considering the true status of Fischer among the champions.

This is essentially a book on chess history, showing how different styles of chess play became popular and flourished and then faded in popularity, such as for example the Hyper-Modern Style of play that became ''All the Rage'' in the 1920s and 1930s.

The legendary chess players that Genna Sosonko brings to life in this new collection of his acclaimed writing have one thing in common: Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal and Petrosian, they were all world champions.

The legendary chess players that Genna Sosonko brings to life in this new collection of his acclaimed writing have one thing in common: Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal and Petrosian, they were all world champions.

The Big Book of World Chess Championships 46 Title Fights - From Steinitz to Carlsen

Catalog Code: B0169NIC

German chess journalist Andre Schulz tells the stories and the history of the World Chess Championship fights in fascinating detail: the historical and social backgrounds, the prize money and the rules, the seconds and other helpers, and the psychological wars on and off the board.

CLEARANCE - Fischer World Champion! The Acclaimed Classic About the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match!

Catalog Code: B0075NIC

In 1972 a boy from Brooklyn broke the hegemony of Soviet chess.Bobby Fischer, the greatest genius the game had ever seen, completed his crusade against the 'commie cheaters' by defeating Boris Spassky in Reykjavik. The Match of the Century electrified the world. No one wanted to miss even the slightest detail about the struggle of Fischer against the superpower that for decades had exploited its superiority in chess as an irrefutable justification of communism.

This is a basic book that teaches strategic planning in chess. Written by a former Chess Champion of the world, this book has as its basis an entirely novel idea which will help players over a real difficulty.

This is a book in Descriptive Chess Notation of great importance not only because of the question it addresses, but because of who asks and then answers that question. Dr. Max Euwe, who was world chess champion from 1935 to 1937, compares and contrasts Bobby Fischer with the three greatest players before him, world champions Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine.

Through an introduction that explains how the ordinary chess player can improve in the various phases of the game of chess, and in enlightening commentaries far more extensive than space permits in an ordinary annotated game, former World Champion Dr. Max Euwe shows how a chess player should think, by indicating the moves for all but the most obvious moves of each game. By applying what he learns in this work the reader may, indeed, find himself traveling the road to chess mastery.

Meet the Masters The Modern Chess Champions and Their Most Characteristic Games

Catalog Code: B0112IS

Meet the Masters contains the biographies of the eight strongest players in the world at that time. It includes their histories, photographs, games and an analysis and critique of their playing styles. Each of these eight players had been invited to the historic tournament at AVRO 1938, regarded as the strongest chess tournament ever held prior to modern times. The eight players generally regarded as the strongest in the world were: World Champion Alexander Alekhine, former champions José Raúl Capablanca and Max Euwe, future champion Mikhail Botvinnik and challengers Paul Keres, Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky and Salo Flohr.

This book makes a fairly thorough study of those endings most likely to occur in play, especially those with rooks. This book is best worked through as a course of study, so that the underlying ideas are absorbed and a sound positional judgment is acquired it is at first not necessary to understand every nuance, far less to try to remember the more difficult variations; indeed one might pass over the sub-variations at first reading.